PADMA AWARDS 2016: List of 'Padma Bhushan' Awardees 2016

Padma Awards, one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year. Here is the list of persons awarded with Padma Bhushan

Udit Narayan Jha is a Nepali playback singer whose songs have been featured mainly in Bollywood. Born in Bhardah, Saptari in Nepal, has also sung many songs in other languages including Nepali, Bhojpuri, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Garhwali, Sindhi, Punjabi, Odia, Assamese,Manipuri,Maithili and Bengali. He has won three National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards. In 2001, Narayan was awarded the Prabal Gorkha Dakshin Bahu by the late King of Nepal Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev.

Vinod Rai (born 23 May 1948) was the 11th Comptroller and Auditor General of India.He assumed office on 7 January 2008 till 22 May 2013.] He is the current chairman of UN Panel of External Auditors. He is currently Honorary Advisor to the Railways and a member of the Railway Kaya Kalp Council. He holds a master's degree in Economics from the University of Delhi, and Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University. He is widely considered as symbol of the anti-corruption movement.

Anupam Kher (born 7 March 1955) is an Indian actor who has appeared in several hundred films and many plays. Mainly working in Hindi films, he has also appeared in acclaimed international films such as the 2002 Golden Globe nominated Bend It Like Beckham, Ang Lee's 2007 Golden Lion winning Lust, Caution, and David O. Russell's 2013 Oscar winning Silver Linings Playbook.

Robert Dean Blackwill (born August 8, 1939) is a retired American diplomat, author, Senior Fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations[2] and lobbyist. Blackwill was the United States Ambassador to India (2001–2003), and United States National Security Council Deputy for Iraq (2003–2004), where he was a liaison between Paul Bremer and Condoleezza Rice.

Sania Mirza is an Indian professional tennis player, who is currently ranked No. 1 in women's doubles rankings. From 2003 until her retirement from singles in 2013, she was ranked by the Women's Tennis Association as India's No. 1 player, both in singles and doubles. Throughout her career, Mirza has established herself as the most successful female Indian tennis player ever and one of the highest-paid and high-profile athletes in the country

Indu Jain belongs to the Sahu Jain family and is the current chairperson of India's largest media group, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., which owns the Times of India and other large newspapers. She is widowed with two sons

Ram Vanji Sutar (born 1925) is an Indian sculptor. He is the reciepient of Padma Bhushan (3rd highest civilian award) in 2016 & Padma Shri (4th highest civilian award) in year 1999 for his contribution in the field of Art.

Heisnam Kanhailal is a noted art theatre personality from Indian state of Manipur . He was awarded Padma Shri award in 2004 and Padma Bhushan award in 2016 by Government of India for his work. He is the founder-Director of Kalakshetra Manipur, established in 1969, a theatre laboratory that explores a new vocabulary in the existing language of theatre.

Professor Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad M.A., Ph.D. in Hindi and Telugu, is an Indian writer and politician. He is the Chairman of the A.P. Hindi Academy; Professor in Hindi at Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India, and is a former Rajya Sabha Member.

Barjinder Singh Hamdard is the managing editor of the Punjabi newspaper Daily Ajit. and he is also an ex-parliamentarian of India's upper house, Rajya Sabha. He is the son of famous Punjabi journalist and writer Sadhu Singh Hamdard.

Dr. D. Nageshwar Reddy is a gastroenterologist who studied in the famous Kurnool Medical College. He is the Chairman of the biggest gastroenterology hospital in the world i.e. Asian Institute of Gastroenterology located at Hyderabad. He received the Padma Shri award in 2002 and Padma Bhushan award in 2016.

Hafeez Contractor (born 1950) is an Indian architect. He was member of the Bombay Heritage Committee and New Delhi Lutyens Bungalow Zone Review Committee. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in Januray 2016 by the Governement of India.

Ravindra Chandra Bhargava is Chairman of the Board at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and is credited with the success of Maruti in India.He was awarded India's third highest civilian award the Padma Bhushan in 2016.

Alla Venkata Rama Rao is an Indian inventor and chemist, known for his pioneering researches in the field of drug technology. He is the founder of the A. V. Rama Rao Research Foundation, a non governmental organization promoting research and doctoral studies in chemistry and Avra Laboratories, an organization dealing in intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients, used in therapeutics.

Dayanand Saraswati About this sound pronunciation was a Hindu religious leader who founded the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement of the Vedic tradition. He was a profound scholar of the Vedic lore and Sanskrit language. He was the first to give the call for Swarajya as "India for Indians" – in 1876, later taken up by Lokmanya Tilak.